1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-disk player for selecting and taking one optical disk out of a lot of optical disks to load the same into record playing equipment, and taking out the optical disk from the record playing equipment after playing records on the optical disk.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years optical disk players for playing records on optical disks have spread widely. Some of the optical disk players comprise a multi-disk player for selecting and taking one optical disk out of a lot of optical disks contained in a desk containing portion to load the same into a record playing equipment, and taking out the optical disk from the record playing equipment after playing records on the optical disk to return the same to its original position in the deck containing portion.
This multi-disk player comprises a box-shaped or groove-shaped chassis, a containing portion for containing a plurality of optical disks (compact disks) arranged in a stack having upper and lower stages in the chassis, and a disk loader for loading one disk selected out of the plurality of disks into the record playing equipment from the containing portion and returning the disk in the record playing equipment to its original position in the containing portion, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 52251/1989.
The containing portion comprises a magazine formed in the shape of a box whose one side surface is open, and the disks are put one at a time on thin plate-shaped trays arranged in a stack having upper and lower stages in the magazine. An insertion port for getting the magazine in and out of the chassis is provided on the front surface of the chassis, and the magazine containing a lot of disks is gotten in and out of the containing portion through the insertion port. This insertion port is generally opened and closed by a front panel which is provided with various keys used for operating a multi-disk player, an AM/FM radio and the like.
The above described disk loader removes an arbitrary selected disk, together with a tray on which the disk is placed, from the magazine loaded in the containing portion to load the same into the record playing equipment, and takes out the tray and the disk from the record playing equipment after the playing is terminated to return the tray and the disk to their original position in the magazine.
The record playing equipment has a clamper provided opposed to a spindle, receives the disk from the magazine and then, raises this clamper to lift the disk from the tray so that the center of the disk is interposed between the spindle and the clamper, and is so constructed as to read records in a required position on the disk by moving an optical head in the radial direction of the disk while rotating the spindle and the clamper.
The above described disk loader comprises a sliding device for horizontally moving the disk throughout from the containing portion to the record playing equipment and an elevator device for causing a height at which the record playing equipment receives the disk and the height of the selected disk in the containing portion to correspond to each other because the record playing equipment is disposed at the left, the right or the rear of the containing portion.
The above described sliding device includes is of either a swing type as to rotate a tray around one of the corners and of a reciprocating type as to linearly move the tray in the direction in which the containing portion and the record playing equipment are arranged.
The latter described sliding device in which the moving space of the tray is not projected toward the sides of the containing portion and the record playing equipment is preferable in terms of miniaturization. It is considered that the sliding device will be most commonly used in the future.
The above described sliding device of a reciprocating type comprises a sliding member which is provided movably back and forth in the horizontal direction in which the containing portion and the record playing equipment are arranged and a reciprocating driving device for driving the sliding member back and forth. The above described sliding member has an engaging portion which is engaged and disengaged with and from the tray from above and below.
Furthermore, the above described sliding member is provided with a rack having a gear train arranged in the direction of the movement of the sliding member. The reciprocating driving device comprises the rack, one pinion gear rotatably supported on the chassis and engaged with the rack, and an actuator for driving the gear in both the forward and reverse directions.
The pinion gear is driven in the forward and reverse directions by the actuator to drive the sliding member having the engaging portion engaged with the tray back and forth. Consequently, the selected tray and the disk put thereon move back and forth between the containing portion and the record playing equipment.
The above described elevator device includes one of such a type as to raise and lower the magazine and one of such a type as to raise and lower the record playing equipment and the sliding device. The former is most commonly used when the number of disks is small and the magazine is smaller than the record playing equipment, while the latter is most commonly used when the number of disks is large and the magazine is larger than the record playing equipment.
An arbitrary disk can be held in each of the trays in the magazine. In addition, some trays can be kept empty. After the magazine is loaded into the containing portion once, each of the trays is moved from the magazine to the record playing equipment by the disk loader, and it is determined whether or not the disk is loaded into the record playing equipment to determine whether or not the tray is empty. If the tray is empty, the disk loader is subjected to an unload operation to return the tray to its original position in the magazine and indicate that the tray is empty by lighting a lamp as required.
The above described containing portion is provided with an ejecting device for taking out the magazine loaded therein. The ejecting device is so constructed as to prevent the disk and the tray which are moving between the magazine and the record playing equipment from being damaged as well as inhibit or nullify the operation of the ejecting device while the disk loader is being operated and the record playing equipment is being operated so as to reliably return the disk and the tray to their original position in the magazine from the record playing equipment.
As described in the foregoing, if the multi-disk player is so constructed that the operation of the ejecting device is inhibited or nullified while the disk loader is being operated and the record playing equipment is being operated, it cannot take out the disk remaining in the magazine and replace the disk with another disk or insert the disk into the empty tray in the magazine unless it waits until the playing of records on the disk is terminated to return the disk to the magazine or interrupts the playing of the records to return the disk to the magazine. Accordingly, the multi-disk player is inconvenient for use.